Mode Zero

I've been taking Lipo cells from discarded vapes for a while now, Shaun mentioned his dislike of vapes this morning and it made me wonder if anyone else is doing the same? You might cringe at picking up something thats been in some elses mouth, but to me its criminal that these things - full of chemicals as well as a rechargeable lithium cell - are being thrown away like tab-ends. Lithium is in critical supply and these things lay in the gutter until they wash into the drains and poison the water system. Use dog-poo bags or gloves and give them a spray of household disinfectant when you get them home. Prise off the two ends and slide the contents out, if you're squeemish you can do this wearing the gloves or poo bags, and inside you'll find a tubular 550mAh lipo cell. Be careful as the wires are very thin. Snip them to release your bounty, and throw the rest in the bin. Chances are its perfectly good and will recharge just fine. Perfect for an indoor model or a MPX Fox or Lidl glider, or for torches, test gear, or if you're that way inclined (I'm not, why would you?), refilling and reassembling a vape. After a discharge to 3v, the cell in the pic charged to over 600mAh - this is typical, never found a bad cell yet.
Free Lipos!







Besides his usual teardown videos Big Clive is also an avid Lipo scavenger:

Great idea, I may be in the market for some new single cells for my micro indoor equipment, will keep an eye out.

Phil_G wrote: ↑17 Jul 2022, 18:23are being thrown away like tab-ends.

Haven't seen any around our township and there are plenty of bogan smokers around, maybe I'm just not in the habit of looking for such things especially in gutters and the like.

Went down Ponty Park for an hour this evening, arrived to find I had no key, so couldnt get lnto the flying field
I did find a vape though


1500mAh, same length as the usual cells but about 3/4" diameter. Ideal for the next Lidl Glider!

Persons making combat drones in Ukraine are using the vape cells for anti-tank bomb releases on the large multicopters they use to carry anti-tank and anti-personnel carrier, grenades.

They have volunteer organizations in Poland and other countries collecting them and forwarding to the assembly point. The make of the multicopters is appropriately enough called "Made in Ukraine".

This week's haul, some dismantled & 22 still to do.
Quite apart from the joy of free batteries, imagine how much toxic lithium would have dissipated into the environment....

incroyable! que dire des test de grossesse électronique a usage unique! quel gâchis
google translation
unbelievable! and single-use electronic pregnancy tests! such a waste

I just find it amazing that so much of this toxic stuff is just being tossed onto the streets or into the parks & public areas we all use, by tossers clearly without much (if anything?) between their ears

I know you guys don't have a monopoly on such people, but here in Wellington - New Zealand (yes, I'm back ) - I haven't seen any of these tossed onto the streets. My project is a 27 klm long motorway, so I've seen plenty of roadside litter since we opened in March this year, but none of these .

Maybe kiwi tossers are more discrete??

I've not seen any yet, though I don't often frequent the places where the vapers hang out. Or perhaps I just have a blindspot, where discarded vapes are concerned. I'll keep hoping to find some...